


Sage

by annalore



Category: National Football League RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 21:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annalore/pseuds/annalore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt Simms stands on the sidelines and sees everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sage

Matt Simms stands on the sidelines and sees everything.  He watches his team play with pride, his eye on the Jets green that he was raised to hate.  He doesn’t care what his father says; he’s home.

He watches Geno Smith play.  A kid two years younger than him, but pushed into the spot of leader ahead of him.  Matt knows he should be jealous.  He should want that to be him.  But he recognizes the pitfalls of the Jets, and he sees how Geno struggles with all of the responsibility, but none of the trust, placed squarely on his shoulders.

After a failed third down conversion, Geno comes off the field and approaches him.  Sanchez hovers down the sideline, but doesn’t come over.  They talk plays for a couple minutes, as the punt unit takes the field and kicks the ball away.

“I heard he decided to have the surgery,” Geno says quietly after a silence, casting a sidelong glance down the line.  Matt has to strain to hear him, but when he does, he follows Geno’s eyes to where Sanchez stands, scowling.

“Congratulations,” Matt says.  He knows it’s not what Geno wants to hear, even before he sees the sour twist to his mouth, the defeated slump in his shoulders.

Matt has been around football his entire life.  Some of his earliest memories were sitting on his father’s lap, watching film.  He can’t even remember his first game he went to; for him, it’s just something that always was.  Playing wasn’t a choice for him, just the natural flow of his life, but now, as he looks out onto the field, he knows that his chance will come at the expense of someone he likes, someone he’s come to call a friend.

He watches Geno come off the field again, and head towards Sanchez.  They talk for a minute, Mark frowning, his posture closed off, hostile.  He walks off, leaving Geno standing there alone.  Matt turns away. 

He sees more than they want him to.  He sees both the good and the bad, the way that this constant competition destroys relationships, destroys men.  They’re supposed to be a team, but they’re forced to compete, forced to ruin themselves with worry over the next guy, the next best chance for a team grasping at straws.

He swears that won’t be him.  He’ll play when they let him, and love it.  He’ll support Geno when he doesn’t, because this is his team, and he wants to win.  He’ll regret it when they release Sanchez and wish him the best.  He’ll watch, and he’ll survive.


End file.
